Visceral Neutering

This looks like fun

I found this great post on the NFL's discussions to limit the hits on other players based on the refs perception of the degree of the hit when checking out the Giants.com message forum. The refs will have a new jurisdiction to regulate fouls based on their perception on the "devastation" of a hit.

"After a weekend of knockouts (literally), the NFL and sundry rattles its sabre in a pretense of caring for the health of its players. Analysts, coaches, players, commentators and even the fans are quick to say how out of line James Harrison, Dunta Robinson, and Brandon Meriweather are for their collective "cheap shots" on fellow players.

And they are all full of crap.

The whole debate about helmet to helmet, and defenseless players; this legislating of a full contact sport could be made moot with one stroke of the pen .... turn the NFL into a flag football game.

Why doesn't this happen? Because that product wouldn't sell. Period.

The NFL is the most popular sport in the U.S. for one reason ... it gives a visceral fix not seen anywhere else. The NFL is and always has been our gladiatorial arena. Crowds cheer more loudly at hard hits. We thrill at bone crushing hits. We delight when helmets come flying off. We shiver with pleasure when blood is spilled.

Then we feel guilty afterwords and publicly decry those we can label as obvious villains while scouring the Internet for the clips of those fantastic hits we missed on Red Zone, or the Sunday Ticket.

I say relish in this time of aggression. One day and one day soon, you will not be afforded your visceral fix any longer. The thought machine that directs what we say, and how we react publicly during our everyday lives will extend to (and already has) our private lives and in the not so distant future, sports like football will truly become a virtual sport.

Well defined, well trained athletes will give way to slightly built, physically challenged individuals with over developed hand-eye coordination, wielding joy sticks and your new heroes will be pixelated monstrosities that are blown apart in CGI'd wonder on a daily basis."